Ohio truck driver killed in chain of crashes on I-80 in Poconos

A truck driver was killed early Monday morning in a chain-reaction crash sparked after another tractor-trailer lost its load on Interstate 80 eastbound in Pocono Township, officials said.

DAVID KIDWELL

A truck driver was killed early Monday morning in a chain-reaction crash sparked after another tractor-trailer lost its load on Interstate 80 eastbound in Pocono Township, officials said.

The driver of an eastbound flatbed tractor-trailer lost control of his rig near mile-marker 295, causing two pre-fabricated concrete forms to fall from his flatbed.

Video: View the crash's aftermath

One of the forms landed on the interstate, setting off a chain reaction involving three more tractor-trailers and a passenger car, according to Monroe County Coroner Bob Allen. Allen said the area was foggy when the 3:28 a.m. crash happened.

The resulting investigation and cleanup closed I-80 for more than a dozen hours and caused spillover bottlenecks onto other roadways.

Daniel L. Snyder, 41, of Youngstown, Ohio, was hauling a load of aluminum extrusions to Brooklyn when a tractor-trailer in front of him struck the fallen concrete forms and became disabled by a flat tire, according to Allen.

Snyder plowed into the back of that tractor-trailer, driven by Jason Osborne, of Port Crane, N.Y. Allen pronounced Snyder dead at the scene.

The impact of the crash pushed Snyder's tractor into the trailer in front of him. His load of aluminum extrusions crashed though the back of his tractor, pinning him in the wreckage.

His body was removed about seven hours later after the two trucks were separated. No one else was injured.

Snyder worked for Coy Brothers Trucking in Canfield, Ohio, for the past eight years. His boss, Arlan Coy, said the staff was shocked by the news of his death.

"We are a small company, so everybody knows everybody," Coy said. "We just had our company Christmas party on Saturday and (Snyder) was there. We all had such a good time and now this," he said. "We have never had a driver die while driving in our company history, and that goes back 54 years."

Snyder is survived by his wife and four children.

The truck that hauled the concrete is owned by Kaplan Trucking Co. in Cleveland. David Ferrante owns the company and said he is sending staff to the area to find out how the wreck occurred.

"We are a family company, and when something like this happens we take it very, very seriously. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the victim and everybody else involved," he said. "I'm hesitant to say anything else until I find out exactly what happened."

I-80 East was closed all day and into Monday night. Traffic was diverted onto I-380 north.

A team of state police accident reconstructionists spent all day on the scene documenting the wreck. A dozen workers from Schlier's Towing worked into the night to clear the wreckage and clean diesel fuel from the road.

Volunteer firefighters were on the scene and used water tankers to wash fuel, absorbent and debris from the road.

The closure of I-80 East meant huge traffic jams in and around Mount Pocono. To help ease long lines of traffic on Routes 611 and 940 in Mount Pocono, Councilman Bill Jabara began tweaking traffic lights and monitoring traffic.

Jabara said he and borough workers tried to make sure that trucks and buses didn't get caught in intersections.

"How many cars use I-80 East each day — 40,000? Well, that's how many we have in town today," he said.